


height isn't everything

by jemrio



Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-05 21:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13396335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jemrio/pseuds/jemrio
Summary: McG tries to work his magic, but it doesn't turn out quite like he pictured((post 1.11, includes spoilers))





	1. Chapter 1

_“Howdy ma'am, I’m Joseph.”_

 

Joseph McGuire was everything Hannah had pictured: tall, handsome, and with a drawling voice that would make any girl swoon. She thought back to the operation in Seville, holding in laughter as she imagined what else may be a part of the McG seduction toolkit. From the way he had looked her up and down, Hannah thought there was a good chance she might just find out.

_I mean, that’s just unfair_ , she thought on the jet back to DC. _Entirely too good looking for his own good._ Hannah never had much of a type when it came to men; there had been phases of course, the kind that were common enough to teenage girls. The bad boy, the jock, the brooding artist. As she’d gotten older though, she’d realized the men who stayed close to the cliches had lost her interest. Natural curiosity paired with a biting wit made her active and restless in relationships that didn’t challenge her.

After college, she’d joined the CIA, and her dating life took a back seat. It wasn’t easy to keep a boyfriend when she had a cover ID to protect. The years wore on, and then she got her NOC assignment… there were casual things here and there, guys who often looked like McG in fact. It wasn’t that she didn't want companionship, it was just easier to know the person she slept with last night wouldn’t freak out when she didn’t call back for a month and a half.

McG was funny and kind, and she had to admit she was attracted to him, if in a more amused kind of way. He had approached her while they waited for transpo out of Colombia, sidling up to her in a way that made her recall a panther stalking its prey. She held back a laugh.

“So, Ms. Rivera, any reason to get right on back to DC tonight?” His voice was caramelized butter.

“Besides my job, you mean?” Hannah answered, a smirk playing on her lips. She didn’t quite know where he was steering this, but she was interested enough to want to find out.

“Oh, of course--I thought there may be someone waiting for you…” He trailed off, and she arched an eyebrow. _There it is._

She was saved from having to let him down easy when Dalton yelled at him from across the tarmac to “Stop flirting and get your ass over to the medical area”. McG rolled his eyes and didn’t even bother looking abashed as he backed away from her.

“Sorry ma’am, gotta go save some lives,” he grinned and winked at her. This time Hannah did laugh. She shook her head and mused on why exactly her reflexive answer would have been a no; there was attraction there, if only physical. Sex with McG would undoubtedly be good, and she _was_ single; no one waiting at home for her other than an uninterested goldfish named Pauline. Hannah watched him jog toward the small tent where paramedics were still looking over some of the passengers on the plane, his impressive form moving in an agile and controlled way. She could appreciate his looks, but the heat, the aching burn behind her belly-button was noticeably absent.

 

_“Or at least more times than_ Joseph _can count.”_

 

Hannah bit her lip and searched the tarmac for the other ex-CIA operative, recalling the warmth of his shoulder beneath her hand. She hadn’t met Amir before today, but she’d felt a kinship with him before she’s even stepped off the plane. To be honest, she’d read his file cover to cover, and she’d been a little in awe of him when she first started as the team’s Mission Coordinator. Not many people could understand the feeling of coming back to civilian life after being undercover; you pretty much had to be either a damn good psychologist or another NOC agent. Hannah had most definitely had her fill of the former, and the latter didn’t exactly grow on trees for her to befriend and bond with.

The few times she’d worked with him in particular, in his ear talking him through a cover situation, she’d felt a connection that, out of principle, she’d ignored. Today though, they were face to face. Today, when she saw him smile, there was no screen or hundreds of thousands of miles between them--only a yard of empty space the both of them unintentionally gravitated into.

 

_“Height isn’t everything.”_

_“No, but it’s something.”_

 

It’s not like she meant for her voice to get lower, or initiate physical contact, or lock eyes with him quite that long; just like she didnt mean for a spark to light in her chest, making her body buzz like she was a kettle put on to boil. It just… happened.

Banter had always been a turn on for Hannah. She liked to tease, liked to flirt. The look in Amir’s eyes when he dropped down from the truck right in front of her might as well have been a starter’s pistol, or a lighter. Or a great big fucking neon sign that said _go ahead, Rivera, try me._

Hannah was never one to back down from a challenge.

The sincerity that lingered beneath his retort made her want to figure out exactly what else he was working with. He was quick, but she was quicker. When she leaned in to finish him off, he didn’t move back; just smiled and took it as everyone else laughed at his expense. Of course, she’d have liked to keep going, but they were still on the clock. Hannah took in this good natured, reserved manner, like he was used to bearing the butt of the joke. Something about that made Hannah want to touch him. A lot. She couldn’t resist rubbing his shoulder in apology, and noticed that he reached out in the same way as he laughed.

 

Soon it was back to business, but image of Amir’s dark eyes and crooked smile kept returning.

 

Hannah spotted him carrying a couple duffel bags toward the jet the team would soon be departing on. She smiled as he neared her, and he slowed, looking swiftly off to the side in an unmistakable “who, me?” gesture. If he kept acting all sweet and endearing, Hannah was going to have some serious trouble getting on that plane back to DC.

“Hannah,” Amir said, nodding in acknowledgement as he stopped beside her. “Quite a return to the field today.”

“Well, it’s easy to direct an op when your operators are world class,” she said, tilting her head. When he that smile spread over his lips, the warmth in Hannah’s belly sizzled. He looked down, and she was glad of the dark; if he was blushing she’d really be in trouble.

“I’d say you did a little more than directing.” Amir glanced in the direction of the local authorities standing guard over the traitor. Hannah shrugged, moving a little closer to him as he dropped the duffel bags to the ground. “I wish I could have seen you take him down.”

Hannah felt a shiver go down her spine.

“I did get a little feisty,” she laughed, casually bumping his shoulder with her own. Amir raised an eyebrow.

“Somehow I can’t picture you as ‘feisty’.”

“Oh? What word would you use?” Hannah met his eyes with a challenge. Amir considered for a moment.

“I believe ‘kick-ass’ would be the most accurate.” Hannah laughed. Amir cleared his throat before changing the subject. “So, how many times has McG asked you out already?”

Hannah smirked. “Just one. Well, sort of. He didn’t exactly get to the asking part before being called away.” She glanced toward the medical tent. “I was going to say no, though.” Amir looked surprised.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “He’s not really my type…I’ve actually been thinking height may be a little over rated.”

Amir’s raised his eyebrows. This time she was sure he was blushing. 

* * *

 McG collected his gear as quickly as he could, hoping to get another crack at Rivera before they all left Colombia. As he headed out onto the tarmac, he noticed that she was standing in the same place he’d left her, but she wasn’t alone.

Amir stood close-by, and as McG watched, Hannah drifted closer to him. They were chatting, smiling. Hannah leaned into Amir, touching her shoulder to his. McG frowned. Was she… was she _flirting_ ? With _Amir_??

He saw Amir look shocked at something Hannah said. Before he knew what was happening, Amir pulled a phone out of his pocket, and Hannah was typing something into it.

 

McG stopped dead in his tracks.

 

“ _Oh,_ ” he murmured.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re not getting the sat phone till I get an explanation, Raisani.”  


“McG--”  


“I ain’t playing, I’ll hide it on the top shelf.”  


“There’s nothing to say!”  


“A likely story.”  


“Would you just--”  


“Sorry, bro. This is happening.”  


“Look, I didn’t _mean_ for--hey, stop alright, it’s not hiding if I can see where you put it--”  


“Ah shit, where’d it go…”  


“Um, not to interrupt you guys, but what the fuck?” Jaz stood at the door, sure she’d walked in on a scene from some alternate universe; McG was standing on a chair, rummaging his hand around the top of the cabinets. Amir stood a few feet away, looking exasperated, with his eyes closed and the bridge of his nose pinched between two fingers.

  
“Yo Jazzy, give me a hand here and box out Raisani while I secure the sat phone,” McG called, now brandishing a package of pasta as a broom across the cabinet top.

  
“First off, no; second, don’t try to involve me in…” Jaz gestured widely. “Whatever this is.” Jaz circled the scene to reach the fridge, pulling out a beer. Amir, muttering in Arabic under his breath, sat down at the kitchen table. “Why can’t Amir have the sat phone?” She asked, taking a long sip.

  
“Because McG is intent on thinking I have betrayed him,” Amir all but growled. He bristled as McG scoffed from above.

  
“Bros before hoes, am I right Jazzy?” The medic dropped down from the chair, sat phone recovered and safely in his hand. A lesser man might have lunged for it, but Amir just shook his head in resignation. Jaz arched an eyebrow, and McG back peddled. “I mean, as antiquated cliches go--hoes is subjective--I didn’t mean...”

  
“By all means, keep going,” Jaz said, rolling her eyes. “Here, I’ll hide it in my bunk.” She stuck out her hand for the sat phone. McG whistled, looking relieved he hadn’t dug the hole quite so deep as to warrant retaliation.

  
“Oh, come on--seriously?” Amir asked. Jaz gave a wicked grin.

  
McG tossed her the phone, and she snagged it out of the air easily. Before the taller man could get out a full victory whoop, however, Jaz walked it over to the table and sat the phone firmly in front of Amir.

  
“Jazzy!” McG yelped in disbelief. Quicker than Amir thought possible, Jaz darted back to the medic and frogged him right in the bicep.

  
“Don’t be a _dick_ head,” she said, hitting him once more for emphasis. She turned. “So, I heard you actually have some game, Amir.”

 

Amir froze, hand halfway to grabbing the phone.

 

“How did you..?” Jaz laughed.

  
“I didn’t, not really. Preach mentioned he might have seen something, but I wanted to find out for myself.”

  
“This is so insane,” McG muttered, carefully rubbing his arm where Jaz had attacked. Amir rubbed a hand over his face.

  
“That’s something we both can agree on,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose once more. “Yes, ok, fine. I was innocently _talking_ ,” he looked pointedly at McG. “to Hannah, and she ended up giving me her phone number. That’s what I told you, and that’s all that happened.”

 

What he wasn’t going to tell them was the way her touch lingered on his arm, or the spark in her eyes when she leaned in close. _There are_ so _many other things to consider besides height, don’t you think?_

 

Jaz scrunched her nose up at McG. “Dude, could you be any more juvenile? He got her number, so what?” McG threw up his hands.

“I just want to know _how,”_ he said. Jaz nursed her beer and shrugged.

“I dunno, maybe she _liked_ him. Maybe he was _nice_ , and she was _attracted_ to him. It’s not always a game, dude.”

 

Amir slipped quietly out of the kitchen and back to his bunk as the two argued, sat phone safely in his back pocket. It would be about 2PM in DC… not that he was actually thinking about calling Hannah less than 24 hours after she’d given him her number. The rubber buttons on the phone chafed against his finger tips.

 

_Ok. I’m thinking about it._

 

The burner she’d inputted her number in had been reset and returned to the cache, but he didn’t need to see the list of digits to dial; he’d memorized them easily as he sat on the 17 hour flight back to Turkey, his interaction with the beautiful woman running on loop in his mind. To be quite honest, he was just as bewildered at the situation as McG. From the moment his tall, handsome team mate had zeroed in on Hannah with that “Howdy, ma’am”, Amir had been expecting a repeat of Seville. Maybe not with the same ending (he didn’t know much about Hannah Rivera, but if she’d been tapped as a DIA Mission Coordinator, he knew she’d at least be professional to a fault) but with the same general plot line: McG meets girl, McG woos girl, Amir and Preach exchange glances and eye rolls.

Instead, he’d found himself on the receiving end of more than a few of Ms. Rivera’s stunning smiles and conspiratorial remarks, and every single time he was floored. There was no getting used to those bright brown eyes staring deep into his own, or the weight of her hand on his shoulder. Even before his NOC assignment in Algeria, Amir hadn’t exactly been a lothario. When he was young, sure; he’d run around with girls, having fun and keeping secrets from his conservative parents. After the tragedy of losing his sister though, he was turned off from that lifestyle. He’d only had a couple serious relationships since then, both not quite the traditional by-the-book Muslim courtship, but close enough.

He wasn’t a stranger to ‘the game’ as Jaz and McG called it, but he definitely was out of practice.

Amir waited as long as he could, but his curiosity got the best of him the next morning. The time difference put him in an awkward position, but he figured 10:30 PM wouldn’t be any worse than catching her at work or running errands. Before he dailed, he left the hangar and meandered a good way down the road.

  
“Rivera,” she answered the phone, voice a little breathless and possibly hiding a giggle. Seized with immediate fear that he’d read the entire situation wrong, Amir paused before replying.

  
“Hannah? It’s uh, It’s Amir. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time…”

  
“Not at all! I actually just got in,” she answered, and he heard a noise like she was shrugging off a coat. “I went for drinks with a few coworkers, so if I sound a little tipsy it’s because I am.” She laughed softly. Besides the lightness of her tone, Amir didn’t think she seemed much different from when they’d spoken in Colombia.

  
“Oh, well that sounds like fun,” he said, still slightly unsure. “I’m not, ah, interrupting anything?”

  
“I didn’t bring anyone home with me, if that’s what you're asking.” The smile in her voice was unmistakable. “Hang on for a minute, I’m just going to change.” She set the phone down on something, and then pressed a button that made a beep and changed the entire soundscape of her side of the call. “You’re on speaker, you can keep talking. If you want,” she added with another soft laugh. Amir didn’t know if he trusted himself to speak. Just knowing that those shuffling sounds meant Hannah was undressing on the other end of the line made his face warm.

  
“I uh, I wasn’t sure when the best time to call would be,” he asked, valiantly trying not to picture her bare skin. When she answered, her voice was far away.

  
“Like I said, anytime. It’s good to hear your voice again, by the way.” Amir trained his eyes on the lightening horizon, smiling.

  
“Likewise,” he said. A humvee rumbled past him on the road. “So, how was your night out?”

  
“Crowded,” she started. “Louder than I remember, and we didn’t even go near the clubs.” She was closer to the phone now, words clearer.

  
“Not the clubbing type. Good to know,” Amir said. “A sports bar, maybe?” Hannah made an affronted sound, though when she spoke he could hear the teasing.

  
“I’ll have you know it was a very classy little bistro-bar that we absolutely were not dressed for, and looked horribly out of place in.” She laughed. The phone beeped again, and the sound changed again as he was taken off speaker.

  
“I can’t imagine you looking out of place anywhere,” Amir murmured, caught up in picturing her in the deep green turtleneck she’d been wearing the day before; he’d been distracted more than once as she moved, her dark, wavy hair tumbled over her shoulder.

  
“Mmm, well that’s a sweet sentiment, Amir.” Her voice was close to the phone now, low and sultry. Amir swallowed hard and scuffed his boot in the dirt.

 

* * *

 

 

Hannah held her cell between her shoulder and ear as she poured herself a drink. She didn’t bother with the correct glass though, so she ended up swirling two fingers of whiskey in a blue and yellow striped plastic cup. She could hear the uncertainty in Amir’s pause, and found it all the more endearing.

  
“Do you drink, Amir?” She asked, already having some clue of the answer, but thought she might as well ask if they were on the subject. Personally, while she kept a bottle of cheap whiskey around for nights like these (late nights, when it was too cold in her bed without someone else in it, and the burning liquor helped a little) going out for a margarita or two with a friend was normally as wild as she ever got.

  
“I don’t,” he answered, voice level.

  
“Just wondering; I have a cousin who’s Muslim, and he’s a bit of a lush.” She chuckled, recalling the time Omar got so wasted at a family reunion he ended up twerking on their great aunt. When she shared that story with Amir, he laughed as well.

  
“Yes, I suppose observance of what we abstain from can get a bit blurred, as with most religions.”

  
Hannah sipped her whiskey, enjoying the warmth sliding down her throat and into her chest. The loveseat she’d settled in felt suddenly too roomy.

  
“Do you abstain from anything else?” She asked, fiddling with the hem of the tee shirt she’d changed into. “Sex?” After another pause, Amir took in a deep, purposeful sounding breath.

  
“Not...entirely.” His voice was low, careful; it made Hannah want to lick her lips. She imagined what he’d look like aroused, pupils blown in those dark, intense eyes. How his hands might feel gripping her hips like a lifeline. What it’d be like to be settled over him in this exact chair, thighs parted over his lap, teeth nipping his neck as she moved her hips close, closer, closer…

  
Lost in her thoughts, she wasn’t quite able to hold back the stuttering exhale that was dangerously close to a purr. She cocked her head and leaned back into the loveseat with a half smile.

  
“Aren’t you going to ask me what I’m thinking about?” She asked. Amir cleared his throat.

  
“I don’t think I should.”

  
“Why?”

  
“I feel like it might get me into trouble.”

  
“Hmm,” she trailed. “How about I promise that it won’t.” Bringing a hand to her mouth, Hannah bit down softly on a nail, more out of anticipation than anything else.

  
“What are you thinking about?” He asked, after a beat and a wavering breath. A full on smirk blossomed over Hannah’s lips as her eyes closed.

  
“You.”

  
There was a sound like Amir running a hand over his face, then a much longer pause.

  
“Ok. New rule.” He said, voice hoarse.

  
“Yeah?” She heard him take a deep, resolute breath.

  
“We talk about this, we’re in the same room.” The implications made Hannah’s toes curl.

  
“It’s a date,” Hannah murmured, a soft laugh making her smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad for being so mean to McG, I really do love him
> 
> Thanks for reading! Feedback is very much appreciated <3


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